Chapter Sixteen
Simon
He was barely holding onto his patience while waiting for Penelope to obey.
She was frightened half to death of him; that much was apparent.
Those pretty, leaf-green eyes of hers were wide with panic, and yet, there was also a hint of arousal lurking in the crystal-clear depths.
Was it too much to hope that a small amount of fear also excited her?
If this was indeed the case, Simon was positive that his new wife had no idea what their intimate relationship would entail.
“Penelope, I will not repeat myself.”
The level of authority in his hard voice snapped his new wife back to reality.
A small sound of distress came from her chest as she stiffly moved toward the bed and gingerly crawled into the middle of it.
As an afterthought, she grabbed one of the many pillows at the headboard, wrapping her arms around it and effectively shielding her body from his heated stare.
For the moment, he would allow the tiny act of insubordination to pass. After all, he had the rest of their lives to assert his dominance over her.
While Penelope watched, Simon stripped away the rest of his clothes. Once he was bare, he stalked toward the bed, still carrying the cravat he’d removed earlier. Penelope’s gaze briefly touched on it, and her lips parted on an indrawn breath.
Standing on the side of the bed, Simon waited until she met his gaze once more.
It wasn’t vanity that told him she appreciated his naked body.
He was aware of his physique and the undeniable fact that women found him extremely attractive.
They stared at each other for a long moment before Simon reached out and removed the pillow from her grip.
Tossing it aside, he crooked a finger at her.
“Come closer.”
It was almost comical how she managed to move to the edge of the mattress while desperately attempting to conceal her nudity.
Simon’s mouth quirked as he watched her maneuvering.
When she was positioned where he wanted her, he pinched her chin between his thumb and forefinger and held her immobile.
Surprisingly, he felt a twinge of empathy for her situation.
“Do you understand what is to happen now, little mouse?”
Her cheeks flushed scarlet red, but she nodded as best she could, indicating she understood his meaning.
“Good,” he purred as her eyes fluttered shut. “Lie back on the bed. Arms out to the side.”
With a whimper, she did as commanded. The flush from her cheeks spread down her body until she was practically glowing with embarrassment.
With her slender legs dangling off the edge of the bed, the position exposed her in a manner she would surely despise, but Simon did not care.
He could see everything now and, bloody hell, his new wife was magnificent.
Stepping between Penelope’s slightly parted knees, Simon drank in her quick intake of breath when she realized how close he was to her quim.
Her thighs clenched with the effort to keep from snapping them closed and scrambling away from him.
He rewarded her trembling restraint by trailing a forefinger over her flat stomach.
With delicate, deliberate motions, he explored her body, tracing her ribs, swirling around her navel before venturing up to the underswells of her breasts.
He caressed the soft flesh, the pads of his fingertips learning how sensitive she was there.
She was barely breathing when his fingers encircled her taut nipples.
They were the prettiest shade of deep-rose pink that he’d ever seen, the size of perfect, miniature rosebuds which had yet to bloom.
Unable to resist temptation, Simon pinched one then the other, delighting in the cry she swallowed back and the way her nipples immediately puckered into mouthwatering buds.
“You are so fucking lovely,” he murmured, bending over her smaller form until his mouth hovered over her bosom. “And I wager you taste as pretty as you look.”
Darting his tongue out, Simon flicked the tiny crest of one breast, then quickly did the same to the other.
Penelope stiffened, her hands closing into fists and reminding Simon that his cravat was still wrapped about his one hand.
The ruby ring on her finger sparkled in the room’s dim light.
She probably had no idea how costly the gem was.
He’d paid a pretty coin for its commission, the jeweler he used verifying that the stone had once been part of the King of France’s coffer of crown jewels.
“Shall I restrain your hands, little wife?” he asked lazily, his breath drifting over her damp flesh. Glancing up at her face, he witnessed both faint horror and unbridled curiosity flit across her features. “My concern is that you will not remain as still as I would like.”
“Will-will it always be so?” Penelope choked out.
Simon’s lips curved. “No. But it is something I greatly enjoy…the sight of a beautiful woman bound and helpless as I relentlessly pleasure her. In time, you will come to love it as well.”
Her mouth tightened into a thin line. “That is highly doubtful,” she said, the words muttered beneath her breath.
“Then let us conduct an experiment,” Simon offered amicably. He could afford to be magnanimous in this moment since he was the one with carnal experience. “I shall pleasure you, and you shall not touch me at any time during this initial encounter.”
“And if I do? Touch you, that is?”
He gave her a wicked smile. “Then you will give me leave to do as I wish for the remainder of the night.”
“And all I must do is not voluntarily touch you?” Penelope was rightfully suspicious but also woefully innocent of the many ways Simon could entice her to break the rules he set in place.
“That is correct. No touching while I bring you to the heights of ecstasy. No matter what I do.”
Simon could see the wheels of her mind turning as she regarded him.
There was a stubborn, almost brattish element in Penelope that was most fascinating, especially as it was concealed beneath a gossamer layer of meek, shy subservience.
If he could manage to break through that shell…
oh, what fun he would have with her then.
He did love the taming of a brat. And a brat who also happened to be his wife?
It had the dangerous potential of becoming a severe, hopeless addiction.
“Well? Shall we play our game, Penelope?”
“I’m not sure if it is worth it, my lord.” Fierce determination sparkled in the depths of her eyes. “If I should win this contest, what do I gain?”
Her unexpected demand surprised Simon, sending a wave of heat throughout his body.
Every weapon of seduction in his arsenal would be employed now that she foolishly challenged him.
His cock hardened into a painful length of steel against her thigh, and a shudder she could not conceal rippled through her body.
“Whatever you want, within reason, of course.” Standing upright, Simon watched her gaze drift to his groin. “Money. Jewels. Property. Whatever you desire, wife.” He swirled a finger around her nipple again, fascinated by the way her body jolted at his touch.
“A library…one that I may call my own. Filled with books that I like,” she whispered softly, turning her face so he could not see the tears shimmering there in the depths of her eyes.
“And tea every day with my favorite sweets. And no one pulling me away while berating me that there are more important things to occupy my time.”
Simon faltered at the unexpected request. Was that how her parents treated her when she tried carving out a bit of time for herself? His jaw tightened at the idea of the pair being purposefully cruel to their only child.
Are you any less villainous? Are you not punishing her for circumstances she never intended to occur?
Simon shrugged his shoulders, dismissing the momentary inconvenience of his conscience rearing its head.
A small room with a few books in it and a tea kettle.
That’s all she was asking for. And while it was something he would have granted her anyway, he was bastard enough not to enlighten her with the truth.
“If that is your only demand, then I shall count myself fortunate. Are you sure that it is all you want?”
Penelope’s head moved, her nod barely noticeable, but Simon was already bending over her body again, ready to take and take and take until she screamed his name.
He wanted it ringing through the rafters.
Wanted the wedding guests still milling about downstairs left with no doubt that he’d made Penelope True his wife.
Especially her heartless, spiteful parents.
This possessive, feral side making itself known was nonexistent before this girl, but now it raged inside him, and he wanted nothing more than to embrace it fully.
Before she could stop him, his mouth covered one of her breasts, his teeth worrying the pebbled nipple before he released it with a gentle swipe of his tongue. Penelope moaned, her fingers closing into tight fists, her eyes squeezed shut.
“I have all the time in the world, little mouse, to torment you.” Moving to her other breast, he treated it with the same exacting attention.
“And I will break you before dawn, mark my words.” Brushing his lips over the valley between her breasts, he laughed softly as chill bumps chased across her skin.
“If I had known you tasted this sweet, I would not have waited to make you my wife. I should have carried you off to Gretna Green and to hell with the pompous exhibit of a wedding ceremony at St George’s. ”
As he spoke, Simon moved farther down her body, tracing his lips over every curve and line, his tongue dipping and darting to taste and explore, his teeth nipping here and there until Penelope began holding her breath as she waited for the next tiny pinch of pain.
“Relax, Penelope.” The words were muttered over the flat plane of her stomach as Simon took a deep breath of her skin. She smelled too damned delicious, and his mouth watered as he carefully made his way down to the junction of her thighs. “What I am about to do will not hurt you.”
Using the width of his shoulders, he pressed her legs apart, revealing the tender core of her body.
She said nothing as he gazed his fill of her…
admiring the pink, plump flesh and the soft, curling hair that covered her sex.
Hooking her legs over his forearms, he leaned in close and teased his tongue along her damp seam.
Her flavor exploded on his lips. Addictive. Sweet. Entrancing. He nuzzled farther into the softness, his mouth licking and tasting every delectable inch. “Fucking ambrosia,” he sighed before centering his attention on the peak of her clitoris.
Penelope’s body jerked in response, a low cry of helpless pleasure torn from her lungs.
Her hands clutched at the bed’s coverlet, fingers bunching the cloth into knots.
“Please,” she gasped as he began licking her in earnest. Her hips bucked upward, seeking his mouth and tongue in an almost mindless rhythm. “Please…”
“Say my name when I’m making you come,” Simon murmured.
She was barely holding onto her restraint, and he’d only just begun to unravel her.
He pressed his tongue harder against the little button of flesh and, without warning, shifted so that he could slide his forefinger into her tight channel.
Her body immediately clamped down on the digit, but he curled it inside her, finding a spot that made her go rigid with ecstasy.
He stroked her with relentless intensity, his tongue lashing at her clitoris until she cried out again, her hands flying to clumsily mesh in his hair, her slender fingers tunneling through the thick waves and holding him a willing hostage as he devoured her into a shuddering, brutal orgasm.
“Simon,” she wailed obediently, her back arching off the bed as the climax washed over her. “Simon…”
“Yes, come just like this for me, Penelope. My fingers deep inside you, my mouth drinking you in. God, you taste so damn sweet.” He continued lapping at her as her body pulsated. A satisfied grin curved his lips when he finally lifted his head and met her wide-eyed, half-panicked gaze.
Penelope’s hands fell away from his head, realizing belatedly that she was touching him just as he vowed she would.
He wouldn’t allow her to escape so easily, however.
Capturing her wrists in one hand, Simon chuckled as he stood to full height and quickly moved her to the center of the bed.
In a flash, he secured her hands to the headboard with the cravat.
Penelope twisted and turned to no avail as he slid back between her thighs and pressed a soft, deeply intimate kiss to her mouth.
She whimpered, but whether she was horrified or intrigued by the taste of her own arousal, Simon had no idea.
He only knew she tasted of honey and sin, and he was already a man utterly and completely addicted.
A problem, that. Considering that he still intended to punish her for tricking him into this damnable marriage.
She deserves it…and my resolve will not be swayed.
“Now that I’ve proven my point, it’s my turn to take my pleasure. And sweet little wife, this will most definitely hurt.”